London Two North East: Steve Barfoot insists Romford & Gidea Park deserved more from last weekend’s clash with Sudbury

Crow Lane veteran reflects on 47-13 loss at home to third-placed side and the positives they can take from the display

Romford & Gidea Park director of rugby Steve Barfoot was left with mixed emotions after Saturday’s London Two North East defeat at home to Sudbury.

The away side claimed a 47-13 victory at Crow Lane, but the hosts gave a better account of themselves than the scoreline suggests.

Barfoot and Jordan Wigham’s team enjoyed the majority of possession in the second half, but only had tries from Ben Wrigley and Teddie Duke to show for it come the end of the 80 minutes.

“We went into it thinking we could win and I can’t complain about the performance,” said the Romford veteran.

“The only disappointment is the score because it doesn’t reflect how well we played, but we struggled to break them down.”

Saturday’s loss means Park have started 2018 with back-to-back defeats after they went down 17-15 at Epping Upper Clapton on January 6.

Despite that, Barfoot was encouraged by what he saw during the clash at Crow Lane.

The visitors started strongly and scored three quick tries before Romford responded through flanker Wrigley on the half an hour mark.

Sudbury managed to add another two scores before the break, but Park came out fighting at the start of the second period.

Duke crossed over for a try and added the extras as the home side rallied and looked to claim a bonus point.

Sudbury caught them twice late on, however, to add some gloss to the scoreline in the dark skies in Essex.

Barfoot said: “It was the same as the week before because we have played really well in the last two games now, but not got the results to show for it.

“We had a lot of possession on Saturday, but could only score two tries and they countered really well, so you have to give them credit.”

After boasting an outstanding home record last season, Romford have now lost twice on their own turf.

Both have been to clubs in the top-three though, in the shape of Rochford Hundred (85-7) and now Sudbury.

Therefore Park can take some solace from the fact they have recorded wins in all six of their other home fixtures.

Going forward, Barfoot wants them to try and remain unbeaten at Crow Lane between now and the end of the campaign with only three fixtures left against the likes of Wanstead (second), Norwich (fourth) and Cantabrigian (14th, bottom).

He added: “If we can go the rest of the season without losing again at home then I’ll be happy because the two games we haven’t won at Crow Lane have been against good sides.

“Rochford are running away with the league and Sudbury are not too far behind, so we always knew they would be tough.

“We did hope to win last weekend, but it wasn’t to and the only frustrating thing is the game was a lot closer than it now looks.”

Park stay sixth in the table with 29 points from their 13 fixtures to date ahead of a trip to Cantabrigian this Saturday.

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